South Carolina's Geography Problem

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We have the resources and have built the facilities. It's just a matter of having a coach (and his staff) that can recruit at a high level and apply that on the field.

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Gotta do a better job of cutting the necessary corners. Clemmy has this down to a science, and UGA is good at it in the Charlotte metro.

Developing three stars is OK, but we can't afford to lose bidding war with guys like Fields, Nasirildeen, White, Feaster, etc. Gotta get the Tindall kid.

Your state has double the population of South Carolina and enough high school talent to have y'all competitive almost every year. And given the fact that your in-state rival runs the triple option, you have zero in-state competition for your state's top talent. Lastly, your program is historically an SEC Big 6 program, and your about to play in the playoff for a national title.

I'm talking about the challenges of elevating an historically average program, when our two closest and biggest rivals, who have dominated us over time, are having historical seasons and getting top recruits not only at home, but regionally as well.

Doesn't matter whether you go 0-12 or 12-0, those teams can only recruit 25 prospects a year.

I've always felt that the biggest obstacle of our program being successful - at least since we've joined the SEC - is the coaching staffs either not being good enough at developing talent, coaching a team, not trying as hard as they could at recruiting prospects, or a combination of all the above. Hiring staffs that have already proven themselves at previous jobs, and only want to add a little more shine to their legacies.

Because of our program's tepid history and the small population of our state, a staff for our program cannot just do what others do on the recruiting trail. They don't have to cheat. But they need to work hard at recruiting: to truly have a love for recruiting and a competitive desire to go out and evaluate prep talent, establish relationships, roll up their sleeves and recruit.

That doesn't always mean nabbing the 5-star blue-chip can't miss prospect. It also means recognizing the below-the-radar talent that fits into what you're wanting to do in your program, developing them into solid units, and developing the units into a solid team. And keep recruiting.

A program like USC can build on moderate success if the staff keeps at it. USC was on the doorstep of playing in multiple SECCGs for 4 years, and who knows where we could be now, had Spurrier not decided to call it quits and ride the horse off into the sunset.

This isn't the 1st time UGA's won the SEC. The previous time was Spurrier's 1st yr at USC. They've played in several SECCGs, even during our most successful years. What hurts us is any staff that thinks they can casually recruit to USC - we need staffs that love to recruit, and have a knack for getting out there and recruiting. We'll get talent, if we do....